REVIEW: Zenith Bar & Restaurant – St Kilda, Melbourne

If any of you follow me on Facebook, you probably already know I was in Melbourne for the Queen’s Birthday long weekend. I just got back this morning and I feel like I need another long weekend to recover from the ‘Queen’s party’.

While in Melbourne, I went to Zenith Bar & Restaurant in St Kilda for diner on Saturday night and I have to say, I’ve had the best Seafood Paella I’ve had in my entire life. Now that’s quite a big statement considering Paella is one of my favourite dishes that I’ve tried it in a number of restaurants. As much as I would love to, I’ve never been to Spain so I can’t really compare Zenith’s Paella to a traditional one you’d get in Spain.

We had a table booked for 7pm. We were the first ones in the restaurant but very quickly, more and more tables became occupied and the room was buzzing. The set up has a very cosy feeling to it – it’s quite a small room, with a few round tables, it has a bar and a real fireplace with actual wood burning, which I thought contributed massively to the warm, cosy atmosphere of the restaurant.

For entrée we had four slices of bruschetta. I wasn’t a big fan; The bruschettas were very chunky and the grilled cheese on top was quite heavy. So, next time – because there will definitely be a next time! – I’ll give the bruschettas a pass.

Then we ordered the Seafood Paella for two for main. After the bruschetta, we were a bit worried the paella wouldn’t be as yummy as we were expecting. However I am so glad I was proven sooooo wrong. It was a delectable dish, and the portion was very very generous as well. The Seafood Paella (for two) had three giant prawns, three Moreton Bay lobster tails, mushrooms, chorizo, chicken, tomatoes, mussels, calamari, octopus, shallots and rice. Below is a before-after pic, just so you can see how much was left. We were too full to even have dessert – and that my friend, doesn’t happen very often! Three can easily share the paella-for-two.

The service was good but nothing exceptional. Food didn’t take that long to come out, the waitress was nice and helpful and the owner of the restaurant, who by the way is from Chile, came out to say hello to us and asked what we thought of the food.

The bill came up to $110.30 for 4 slices of bruschettas ($14.90), seafood paella for two ($82), 1 glass of white wine ($7.90) and 1 beer ($5.50).

Would I recommend this restaurant? For the paella, absolutely YES, without any hesitations. If you’re from Melbourne and haven’t been there yet, do yourself a favour and indulge in their infamous paella. The only thing I’d do differently next time is skip entrée, head directly for the paella as main and save some stomach space for dessert.